Pray constantly

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul exhorts the church by saying "pray continually" or "pray constantly or without ceasing"

I've often pondered on that verse as to how I can practically implement that in my life.

Practically speaking there is no way any of us could be praying 24x7, every second of every hour. I believe Paul is using the expression of 'pray continually' as an expression of speech, just as we would say 'I worked continually on such and such for days' or 'I thought of that constantly' etc.

Paul is talking about living a lifestyle of dependency on God where prayer flows out of us at all times and in all situations, where we pray at fixed times in the day and all through the day, we pray all types of prayers, we pray in faith, we persevere in prayer, we pray watchful prayers, we pray privately and publicly, we pray silently in our hearts and we pray out loud, we pray individually and with others, etc.

(As a side note: It's interesting that Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 'rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks' because I believe they are connected. I believe to walk in the joy of the Lord, constant prayer and thankfulness in all situations are key ingredients.)

Let's bathe our lives in prayer, depending on God for all things and at all times. It's a privilege to be able to pray and come directly before God into His throne of grace at any moment of the day by assuming a posture of prayer. What a privilege to come before our Heavenly Father, who is all powerful and almighty and is at the same time full of goodness and mercy, always ready to hear us when we talk to Him. We miss out on the richness of a deep relationship with God if we don't pray. We also miss out on so much in life by our own lack of prayer. We miss out on His guidance, His wisdom, His grace, His strength, His joy, His peace, the list goes on....

If we are to achieve anything in life that's of eternal worth, we absolutely must have a lifestyle of prayer. Let all we do be borne out of prayer and be bathed in prayer. Let's be praying watchfully for our lives and families. Let's pray for each other, the lost around us, our campuses, communities and nation.